Consortium Calls for Publication of Human Rights Act Reform Consultation Responses

The Consortium has joined the Human Rights Consortium in Northern Ireland, the Wales Governance Centre and the Wales Council for Voluntary Action to write to Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab MP. Together, we have asked the Secretary of State to ensure transparency around his planned reform to the Human Rights Act, by publishing all of the responses to the recent consultation on this subject.

The UK Government is planning to replace the Human Rights Act with a new Modern Bill of Rights. Civil society organisations across the UK have expressed their concerns that this replacement would lead to human rights regression. Throughout March 2022, many organisations expressed these concerns by responding to the consultation. The Consortium alone submitted a joint response with 48 Scottish civil society organisations. However, none of these consultation responses have yet been published online.

For the sake of ensuring transparency, it is vital that these consultation responses are published in full, in advance of the publication of any resulting Bill. Transparency is a key human rights principle, and is essential for open and accountable law making. We have also asked that the UK Government publish its own response to the consultation responses.

Click here to read our letter in full

Click here to read the Consortium’s joint response to the Human Rights Act reform consultation